Monday, December 5
I love the anticipation of reading something and reading faster and faster to see what comes next. I'm hoping those reading my story will enjoy the sense of anticipation that comes with the Advent season.
The Christmas Card by Chel... part two
Despite her heavy heart, Ellie seemed to relax when she drove past the city limit signs. This was her town, the home of her childhood and youth. She'd been gone less than two years, and she never quite felt rooted anywhere else.
She'd had quite a long drive to get there, but she'd appreciated the time alone with her thoughts. She'd listened to the radio and let her mind wander, thinking.
Parker had given her so much in the short time they'd been together. He had given her confidence and strength and joy. She had loved Percy for so long that it had become habit, and when he dumped her from the relationship they didn't even have, she had to face a future that was different from what she'd planned.
And Parker was nothing doing with plans. He was a spark - spontaneous energy - and she was caught up in him immediately. He was a Christian, loyal to his family and friends and faith, and she was in love with him so quickly... a very different love than she had for Percy.
Losing Parker so suddenly was a huge blow. She made it through the funeral and legal arrangements, and then she locked herself in their apartment for a week, feeling all of the grief that flooded her.
She had dear friends who flew in to stay with her, who insisted that she come visit them in return, and in time, she began to feel like her life might not actually be over simply because Parker's was.
With the money Parker left her, she traveled the world, went to places she had always wanted to visit. She felt her sadness ebbing as her confidence in her own abilities grew. Parker would have loved to have seen this or that, she thought often on her travels. He always knew I had more in me than I thought.
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Tears spilled down Ellie's cheeks as she sat in the car looking at the big white house with the picket fence. Gram's house. Turning away, Ellie glanced quickly at the house next to Gram's before driving down the street and turning at the light.
A few street lights and turns later, she arrived at one of the town's small hotels and checked in for the night. No need rushing into Gram's house when there's no Gram there, she thought as she looked at the city skyline from the small hotel window. Plenty of time for that later.
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(the next installment tomorrow...)
[ posted by Chel on Monday, December 05, 2005 ]
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